Time Goes By
by secretstardust
Summary: This is Harry's seventh year and Dumbledore has passed away and never had the time to tell Harry everything. Now Harry has a lot on his mind: finishing Occlumence, new Headmistress, finding the Horcruxes, his relationship with Ginny and so many more thing


**Chapter 1**

Harry was packing all his things into his trunk, rummaging in is drawers and closets checking if he had left anything behind. Ron was doing the same thing with an intent look on his face, except he hadn't put anything in his yet, besides for a couple pairs of socks he owned that his mother had made for him.

They were leaving for their seventh year at Hogwarts: the seventh time they would have to face Voldemort. He had tried to kill Harry numerous times in his home, in the cemetery after his forth year, in the Department of Ministries and several other locations that Harry dreaded to think about, but was unfortunately forced to.

Harry had just finished packing his things and closed his trunk with the locks it held, taking care not to scratch it on the hardwood floor of the Burrow, seizing his snowy owl with him.

Harry turned his head abruptly to tell Ron that he would be waiting for him downstairs in the living room.

As Harry finished ascending the stairs, he met Hermione on one of the couches with her nose nuzzled in the pages of the book she was reading...typically Hermione, with Ginny next to her reading a muggle magazine… again, typically Ginny!

She always wanted to grasp the muggle tips on makeup since no witch or wizard was interested in those things.

Harry then positioned his trunk next to Hermione's and Ginny's. He sat down besides Hermione taking the book she was holding, which made Hermione turn around with her face all flushed while Ginny watched her **_love_** and Hermione put on a show:

"Hey give me that, I need to study for our upcoming classes!" Hermione said in her jittery voice.

"Come on, we haven't even started our term yet and **you **want to start studying? Ron come look what our dear Hermione is doing!" Harry let out with a sigh.

Hermione wanted to retort but couldn't when she saw Ron coming down the stairs with sweat beading down his forehead:

"Bloody hell, I couldn't find any of my things until I decided to use your favorite charm, Hermione: _Retrouvio_ to find all my belongings and now my trunk ways as much as Grawp!" Ron declared with an anxiety attack lurking behind along with a small smirk regarding the comment he had said to Hermione.

At this comment, Harry and Hermione and Ginny started laughing when Mrs Weasley came in:

"Oh dear kids, I'm afraid it is time to leave, so get your things ready and there's a car from the Ministry ready outside for you dears." Mrs. Weasley said with tears coming down her cheeks at the thought of leaving them until Christmas.

As she said that, the four teenagers were reminded that they were leaving a "no homework safety zone" and putting themselves right handed into the mouth of Snapes' ugly jaw. They all stopped laughing and picked up their things to go out into the autumn air where the leaves where flying above their heads.

A black car was pulled up into the drive way and Lupin, Mad-Eye and Tonks came out of the car wearing long black robes with their wands visible and tucked into their pants. Despite the fact that the two other Aurors were dressed traditionally, Tonks was the only one not wearing a customary wizards' outfit, for her display was original, like always. She wore her hair in a _turquoise _color ponytail and wore cheetah printed pants. These exotic outfits always amazed Mrs. Weasley, who always wore conventional clothe. To Hermione, Ron, Harry and Ginny, this attire was no fresh news. Ron's parents and everyone else that had spent the summer in the Burrow gave hugs and kisses the four young teenagers who were off to Hogwarts for there final year (except Ginny who was in her sixth) in the safety of the castle walls.

The three friends placed their trunks into the magically transformed coffer and entered the coach with tinted windows for extra safety. As they got comfortable and the engine trembled, signifying the beginning of their ride, everyone started talking except Harry, who seemed to have his eyes closed and sweat dripping from the temples of his face. When Hermione realized what was happening, she started to shake Harry until he woke up:

"What's going on…Hermione…no…wait…stop…" Harry said between breathe with his eyes still closed.

"It's ok…Harry, you'll be fine," Hermione said with an anxious look on her face and then turning to Ron:

"Ron, Harry seems to be dreaming, do you think he continued his Occlumency during the summer?" She said with the same look she had when she had been talking with Harry.

"Oh, he'll be fine, leave him alone." Ron assured her with casualty.

The ride continued with Harry awake with a pensive look on his face. Hermione was looking at Harry with anxiety thinking about what may be happening in his mind and what had happened during the summer that he hadn't told her, Ron or Ginny.

Over the last year or two, Ginny had become part of the trio because of the relationship she shared with Harry, who had ended it at the Department of Ministries for her safety. This had left Ginny extremely devastated and left her with the determination to win Harry back.

Though most of the people in the car seemed to be enjoying themselves, Ron and Ginny were just looking out the window eating some goodies their mom had prepared for their ride on the Hogwarts Express, but Ron and Ginny had decided that the ride to their wizardry school would commence the moment they stepped foot into the leather car.

A hour and a half later, Hermione, Ron, Harry, Ginny, Tonks, Lupin and Mad-Eye stepped out of the car onto platform 9 as they made their way to the wall into which they would disappear. The three Aurors and the four friends made their way onto platform 9 and 3/4.

As they stepped onto the Hogwarts train with their owls and luggage in hand they said their farewells and steeped into the hallway of the incredible train to make their way into an empty compartment where they would be left alone:

"Here's fone, it's wempby of courf!" Ron said his mouth full of cake.

"What's that….clean you mouth please? I don't want to start our year like this!" Hermione said with a frown mixed up with a small smile edging its way towards the corner of her mouth.

Ron swallowed hard and repeated:

"Hers a compartment, it's empty and Mademoiselles, would you please enter first!" Ron said with a smirk on his face while using his hand to lead the way into the compartment.

Ginny and Hermione giggle while Harry looked at him with a small smile regarding the smart joke Ron had made and they all followed Ron's directions into the compartment F3. They levitated their luggage onto the space over their heads before they sat down to get comfortable.

A few minutes into the beginning of their voyage, Harry lifted his head and declared in a curious way:

"I've been having these dreams lately..." Harry started to say but was immediately interrupted by Hermione worried voice;

"What, you never told us that you had stopped your Occlumency lessons during the summer…I mean we were with you the whole time…why didn't you tell us…" This time it was Harry who interrupted Hermione who was in sobs already with Ron trying to comfort her:

"No, no, no, I mean I've been having dreams about Dumbledore's death, I mean what am I supposed to do to find the rest of the Horcruxes. On top of all that I need to find Snape. How am I going to do all of this before I leave Hogwarts?" Harry said with a nervous and perturbed look his friends had ever seen.

"Harry…we can all help you and once we get to Hogwarts I'm sure that we will learn more information about what is going to happen. The Order won't leave us on a cliffhanger!" Ginny had a worried look on her face and came toward Harry and immediately wrapped her arms around his neck, inhaling his wonderful smell. Harry new what she was trying to do but even though he still loved her he couldn't continue his relationship with her so he removed her hands straight away. This made Ginny rush out of the small car without looking back which left Ron, Harry and Hermione alone with disappointed looks on their faces.

"Harry maybe you should try and go out with her. She obviously loves you and you do to. Why try and deny it. I understand your reasons but Voldemort could use any of us as bait, not only Ginny!" Hermione said with a hurried voice which left her panting, afraid she hadn't made her point clear.

There was an awkward silence in the room which was broken by Ron running out of the car to go get candies from Mrs. Nurgat, the old lady that was always on the Hogwarts Express selling her chocolate frogs, laffy-taffy and all the other special wizard delicacies.

Twenty minutes later, Ginny came back with her hair all scrambled, her cheeks flushed and her eyes puffy. There was no other evidence needed that Ginny Weasley had been crying which made Harry sit a little closer to her for the rest of the train ride.

An hour later, and Ginny looking better after having slept in the crook of Harry's neck, the train came to an abrupt stop.

Harry whispered in Ginny's ear which made her sit up in a straight posture and puller her hair back in a ginger ponytail.

"So, we're finally at Hogwarts, I guess another year with the bastard: Voldemort!" Ron spit out which made pieces of food fly everywhere.

"Ron, have a little compassion for Harry!" Hermione scolded but still, like always could not contain herself from reproaching him without smiling.

"Oh it's ok, Hermione, he's right anyway!" Harry said with a tired look which showed by the dark circles under his eyes.

They took their bags from the seat helping each other and opened the door to encounter Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle who had nothing better to do then wait for Harry and his friends:

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Moodblood, the poor red head and his cute little sister," Malfoy started giving Ginny a wink who responded by giving him a nasty look which turned his grey eyes into a cold look.

"And their dear friend, the bloody, BOY WHO LIVED!" At the end of this comment, Malfoy started laughing his head off with his gang but stopped when Ron opened his mouth which turned out to be a big mistake.

"Shut your bloody mouth Malfoy, don't you have anything better to do?" Ron spat but he didn't have enough time to say something else because Malfoy had cast a silent charm on Ron, who couldn't utter a sound, and he left without turning his head.

Hermione turned toward Ron and whispered something with her wand held high which immediately left Ron gasping for words and holding his throat with absolute awe.

"I can't believe that bloody idiot could shut me up like that…I mean…what a bloody idiot!" Ron said with anger still rubbing his throat with continued amazement.

"Just let it go Ron, like you said, he has nothing better to do." Harry said.

They all walked out of the compartment with their owls and trunks in hand and slowly moved passed all the old and new students from Hogwarts finally making their way down the train stairs.

As they looked up they saw the castle immerging from the hills with illuminating lights coming out of each window. But above the castle were millions of stars covering the sky making it look like there were millions of other people looking down on them.

The four friends started to look for a carriage to bring them to the entrance of Hogwarts. As they were looking they heard a familiar voice calling them from inside one of the black coaches:

"Hey guys, there's space right here!" Seamus Finnegan called out.

"Oh thanks Seamus, you saved us some time because going through all those first years…what a pain!" Harry shouted over the first year screaming over their confusion.

The four friends followed Harry toward one of the carriages, where Seamus, Luna, Neville and Dean were already seated.

Hermione and Ginny entered the coach first and sat next to Luna and Neville who were sitting together under _The Quibbler Newspaper_. Then Harry and Ron jumped in and sat down next to Dean and Seamus. They stayed in the coach for about thirty minutes, enough time for all the students to enter carriages.

Suddenly, the carriage moved forward and in less then five minutes they dropped as suddenly as they had gone up in altitude.

Once the carriages hit the floor, a red carpet led all the students to the entrance of Hogwarts, which in full commotion. All the first years where running around and staring at Harry: "The Boy Who Lived" whispering in their new friends ears/.

As Harry walked passed everyone with his group of friends behind him and Ginny at his side, he entered the Great Hall, pushing the doors in front of him to see four magnificent tables nicely put in the middle of the hall with lanterns and chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.

There were thousands of chairs lining either side of the tables of each table. Above these tables, were the symbols of each house, with phantoms like Peeves running around the room trying to mess everything up.

There were a dozen chairs behind the head table for the professors and in front of the Head table, stood the sorting hat singing a song. There were many windows letting in the moonlight and allowing anyone to look up and see the stars.

There were thousands of small table sets for each student and many doors that led to the kitchen. But what really caught Harry's eyes was the big chair Dumbledore used to sit in and over the chair were his half moon spectacles. This made Harry stumble and they new that it would be a tuff year.

Hermione, Ginny, Ron and Harry were about to start a new year at Hogwarts without some of the people they loved but with each others company. They would help each other when they were scared or sad and they would support each other in times of need. They would start a new year with plenty of excitement reminding themselves of the people that were counting on them.

**Author's Note: **This is my first fanfic and I could really use some reviews and they can be

simple…BUT PLEAZ…REVIEW…lol. Anyway I hope you liked this chapter because

there is more to come. I'll try and post regularly but it will be hard cause' I'm leaving

the country to a place where there is no internet…so for that period there will be

no updates…but I'll try my best! Hope you ENJOY!


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